The above-recited patent applications teach methods of forming hydrocarbons and other molecules using an electrochemical decarboxylation process (“EDP”). The reader is presumed to be familiar with the disclosure and content of these prior applications.
Many organic molecules are used in industry and in commercial processing. One type of these molecules are dienes, such as, for example, 1,3-butadiene. Butadiene has a structure CH2CHCHCH2. Dienes have two double bonds in the molecule.
Commercially, diene monomers are produced by one of the four conventional methods; 1) by catalytic dehydrogenation of concentrate n-butylenes, 2) by catalytic dehydrogenation of n-butane, 3) as a by-product in low yields from severe high-temperature cracking of liquid hydrocarbons, and 4) from alcohols and/or diols by a combination of catalytic dehydrogenation and/or hydration. U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,471 describes the production of dienes and is incorporated herein by reference.)
One of the most widely used methods to produce dienes is the dehydration of the corresponding diol, for example 1,3-butadiene is obtained from the dehydration of either 1,4-butanediol or 2,3-butanediol. Such diol molecules are conventionally obtained using the Reppe reaction, hydrolysis of halogenated compounds, or the hydrogenation of anhydrides. All of these conventional pathways involve multiple processes which require high temperature catalytic reactions using petroleum based feedstock.
It would be advantageous to find a manufacturing method to produce diene monomers for the vastly important elastic materials from non-petroleum sources, such as bio generated feedstock and using more economically sustainable processes, for example processes that do not relay on expensive catalysis, high temperatures and pressures. It is the aim of the disclosed invention to synthesize diene monomers starting from biomass, which are then electrochemically converted to diols followed by the conversion to dienes by a dehydration step. Such a process affords a non-petroleum source of diene monomers using a methodology that requires only one catalytic high temperature process.